Former JSC official to testify in Mbenenge’s sexual harassment probe

The Judicial Conduct Tribunal probing sexual harassment allegations against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge resumes on Thursday, with the evidence of former Judicial Service Commission (JSC) official, Kutlwano Moretlwe.

Moretlwe is the individual who assisted Judges’ Secretary Andiswa Mengo with her initial complaint against the top judge on the 17th of December 2022.

The circumstances surrounding the initial complaint are crucial for a few reasons.

This evidence is crucial as the tribunal previously heard that retired Chief Justice Raymond Zondo was allegedly “not satisfied” with Mengo’s initial December 2022 complaint and requested that she lodge a new one.

This runs contrary to Mengo’s evidence that she was told her initial complaint was “misplaced” and she had to write a new complaint in the form of an affidavit.

It will also determine whether Mengo wrote her new complaint without a copy of the initial one – as she previously testified.

Video: Counsel argues Mengo was a ‘willing participant’

On Wednesday, Forensic and Legal Linguist, Dr Zakeera Docrat, provided an expert analysis over the use of emojis in the WhatsApp exchanges between Mengo and Mbenenge, where Mbenenge’s counsel sought to advance the argument that Mengo was a “willing participant”.

“And the occasion is when Ms. Mengo indicated to the respondent that she was going to be in East London and there was an invocation of the biblical verse. Remember that context in the WhatsApps and more specifically, over the page, at paragraph 6.2, the discussion between the JP and Ms. Mengo, the respondent and Ms Mengo, was the prospect of them being intimate.”

“… and JP answers that claim in page 150, paragraph 6.2 and he says, ‘when I saw that Ms. Mengo was not amenable to being intimate at that stage, I asked if she wanted mere friendship’. Her response was to send a picture of a woman laughing, followed by a text with three rolling with laughter face emojis, saying she had no answer…,” says Adv. Griffiths Madonsela SC on behalf of Judge President Mbenenge.

Video: Forensic expert testifies in Mbenenge Tribunal